The Osiris-Rex craft will liftoff on 7 September and spend two years mapping Bennu, before capturing a sample to return to Earth for examination.

There is a 0.037% chance that Bennu will collide with Earth in the next century, triggering damage comparable to 3bn tons of explosive.

The asteroid has been edging closer to Earth’s orbit for decades, but in 2135 it will pass between us and the moon for the first time.

The fly-by could see the asteroid’s orbit realigned to cross paths with Earth’s later in the century.

But the craft’s most important task will be to investigate the effects of the Yarkovsky effect.

Dante Lauretta, professor of planetary science at Arizona University, told the Sunday Times that the force “acts on an asteroid when it absorbs sunlight and then radiates it back into space as heat. It acts like a small thruster, constantly changing its course.”

Space reported that Lauretta said in a press conference yesterday: “[The Yarkovsky effect] acts like a thruster and changes the trajectory of the asteroid.

“If you want to be able to predict where an object like Bennu is going to be in the future, you have to account for this phenomenon, and we’re going to provide the best-ever scientific investigation of this fascinating concept.”

The research team is hoping to use the samples to search for organic molecules, potentially shedding light on how life on Earth started.

The craft will return to Earth in September 2023.

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